The worst education news of the year was the retreat from racial equality in both K-12 and higher education. In oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in December, Justice Anthony Kennedy signaled that he is likely provide a decisive vote to strike down plans that use race in student assignment to promote integration in Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle, Washington. The move would be unfortunate because public schools in the United States serve an important role in providing the glue that holds society together. Our schools are already becoming more segregated, by race and class, and eliminating the ability of districts to use of race removes an important tool to combat that trend.

In higher education, meanwhile, voters in Michigan overwhelming approved an initiative eliminating race and gender affirmative action preferences in public universities and other public institutions. Business, labor, education and religious groups—and the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor—all opposed the initiative, and outspent supporters by three to one. But on election day, in a Democratic year, Michigan voters supported the ban on racial preferences by 58%-42%.

The Best:

The best news is that while the legal and political trends are clearly running strongly against using race to fight inequality, there is growing support for non-racial class-based approaches in elementary, secondary, and higher education—strategies which fight inequality at an even more profound level.

In K-12 schooling, there is growing interest in the movement to integrate students by income or socioeconomic status. In places like Wake County, North Carolina, school officials are able to raise student achievement by giving students from all backgrounds a chance to attend good middle-class public schools, in which no more than 40% of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. In all, about 40 school districts are using economic status as a factor in student assignment, up from just a couple a decade ago. Observers note that even if the Supreme Court strikes down the use of race, a socioeconomic approach, while produces a great deal of racial diversity, will remain legally bullet-proof.

In higher education, professors at Wayne State University Law School voted to replace race as a factor in admissions, in accordance with the wishes of Michigan voters, but will begin providing a leg up to economically disadvantaged students of all races, including those who are the first in their family to graduate college. This approach will disproportionately benefit students of color, and is an important move in its own right. This year, conferences at the University of North Carolina and Yale University, highlighted growing economic disparities in higher education and the need to take steps to achieve greater economic diversity at selective institutions. Publication of Daniel Golden’s book, The Price of Admission also exposed the widespread use of affirmative action for the children of wealthy donors at many leading institutions, which may prompt some colleges and universities to temper these programs.

In 2006, momentum appeared to build to take action on the fundamental economic divide that continues to riddle K-12 and higher education—the very institutions that, in America, are supposed to be the “great equalizers.”

Richard D. Kahlenberg is a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation.